Art at the Threshold is dedicated to the use of art, ceremony and ritual in all their forms, to mark, to express and to share significant events that shape our lives as individuals and as a society. The organization seeds, supports and offers events that explore, honor and celebrate these experience. It provides a venue for bringing together excellent teachers, performers, artists, ritualists, celebrants and speakers to the Madison community and collaborates with other arts, community and business organizations.

The threshold is a metaphor for a juncture, a marked transition in our life experience—birth, the stages of aging, the taking and relinquishing of roles, the formation and dissolution of relationships, the blossoming of a new state of consciousness or understanding, and, finally, the end of life. At the threshold we are offered a marked pause between what has been and what is to come. It is a place where we can feel “framed” in the present moment. It is a safe place where one can feel held and can rest before continuing on the journey. The threshold is a portal where we are most aware of the mystery of our lives. It offers a creative potential from which new understandings can grow, new perspectives can arise, paradigms can shift and new choices can be considered. It allows for growth, renewal and transformation as one crosses the threshold into life, a new life stage, a new role, a new relationship, a new consciousness and, finally the end of life.

Ceremony, ritual and the arts—visual, word, sound, movement, performance, healing, culinary—provide a powerful lens and a rich ground for evoking and exploring the threshold experience. These creative and intentional endeavors offer us a way to participate more fully in our lives. They nourish us and offer us a means for sharing experiences, ideas and wisdom and are a doorway for deep connections between people and communities.

Art at the Threshold is a not for profit organization and is administered by Arts Wisconsin (artswisconsin.org). Support for Art at the Threshold comes from private funding, community and business sponsors, healthcare organizations, grants and gifts from local and national organizations, event revenues and individual donations.

EfratArt at the Threshold was initiated by Efrat Livny, Madison artist and healer (opencirclehealingarts.com). Efrat's life and work are guided by a strong trust in the regenerative powers of the soul, mind and body and the ability to find balance and harmony again and again through life's challenges, losses and miracles. She finds nourishment and inspiration in wisdom traditions and aesthetic expressions of many cultures and the great gifts of nature. She is grateful for the outpouring of support and encouragement that "Art at the Threshold" has been receiving since its inception in late 2010.

For more information contact Efrat Livny.

elivny@sbcglobal.net

608/220-8849

Upcoming Public Events, 2015

MemoryImagining to Remember - The Arts and those living with Alzheimer's and Dementia

Sunday, February 15, 2015, 1:00 pm–4:00 pm
Promega Corporation, 5445 East Cheryl Parkway,
Fitchburg, WI

This program is for the general public, as well as caregivers, professionals, and others who work with people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. This interactive event features Professor Anne Basting, Director of the UW-Milwaukee Center on Age & Community and founder of TimeSlips Creative Storytelling. TimeSlips is a method of engaging with those with memory loss using imagination and storytelling. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience specific creative engagement practices including Poetry, Visual Art, Movement and Music. A moderated Q&A panel will follow, featuring Anne Basting and other leaders of this innovative approach to connecting to those with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

To register and for questions click link below:
Forward Theater Co.



Flint SparksFacing Our Dying: Love and Death
with Flint Sparks

Sunday, March 15, 6:00 pm–8:00 pm and Monday, March 16, 8:30 am–4:30 pm
Holy Wisdom Monastary, Middleton, WI


Following the fall 2014 workshop in which we explored the ways our notions of death and loss can restrict our life; this spring offering will emphasize the core energies of loving and being loved as they affect our ability to face death.

We will open on Sunday evening with an introduction to the themes and practices of the workshop. Monday will provide further opportunities to witness and to experience the ways in which we both turn away and turn towards receiving and offering emotional and spiritual nourishment. Such nourishment is vital to our ability to face the reality of death authentically and with integrity and can allow us to become more intimate with ourselves and with each other.

This workshop is open to anyone, lay or professional, who is interested in living wholeheartedly in the present while facing the inevitability of mortality.

To Register call or email Suzanne Kilkus 608/239-9127, heartspace@charter.net